Magazine for moving-picture machines.



W. A. DIETZE.

MAGAZINE FOR MOVING PICTURE MACHINES.

lAPPLICATION FILED MARA. 1912.

Patented Dec. 16, 1913.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

www

W. A. DIETZE.

MAGAZINE FOR MOVING PICTURE MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED MARA, 1912.

1,081,926, Patented Dec. 16, 1913.

2 SHEETS--SHBET 2.

BEST VILBLE COPY STATES PATENT @FFME WALTER A. DIETZE, F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR T0 JOSEPH J. MERKI, 0F CHIC'AGO, ILLINOIS.

MAGAZINE FOR MVINGPIGTURE MAQHI'NES.

To all whom t may camcom Be it known that I, WALTER A. Din'rzn,

i a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Magazines for Moving-Picture Machines, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact specilication.

This invention ielates to improvements in magazines for moving picture machines respectively inclosing the supply and rcceiving reels upon which the moving picture film is unwound, which magazines are provided with a door hinged at one side for the insertion and removal of the reels for changing films, and which are also provided at theirV respective film outlet and inlet With a pair of rollers both of which are grooved to form a contracted passage and guide for the ilm, but mainly as a means reventing fire entering and burning or exp oding any part within the magazines and either of them. Heretofore, however, in all magazines, for moving picture machines, designed to inclose ,a reeled film, both the supply and receiving reels are operative when the doors of the magazines are open, or even partly open, with the result that the films are not onlyy accessible to lire throu h the doorway, but through the passage in t erollers, by reason of the supply vol air through the door- Way, when, on the other hand, with the door closed, there is an insufficient supply of oxygen in the magazine to produce combustion, further prevented by a more or less Avacuum therein, and especially in the supply magazine, due to the rapidity of movement of the film passing therefrom. In other words, prolonged practice has demonstrated it to be impossible for fire to ignite or enter either of the magazines when provided with the roller constructed passage above referred to provided the door of the magazine is closed, and yet theact remains that the film contents of these magazines be it great or small, not infrequently take lire when the door is left open, or even partly open, on the ignition of the film passing before the moving picture machine between the two magazines and in some instances through the doorway from the spark of a match, cigar, cigarette or other source, in the hand of the operator igniting and exploding the film to the peril of both the life Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed March 4, 1912. Serial No. 681,583.

Patented Dec. 16, 1913.

the public, and

chine in operation do leave one or both doors open, sometimes through over-contidence from having before successfully operated the machine in the absence of an explosion, at other timos through carelessness, but more frequently in the belief that the doors have been swung to a closed position when they have not, and remain suliciently open for the passage of air into the magazine, until finally the lilm therein is ignited and exploded before it is possible to close either door for securing the protection it, was intended to afford and would procure if the door were closed against accidental opening.

Moving picture films are very Vthin and of great length, with but a very short porn tion exposed between the two magazines, and although composed of gun cotton', a very high explosive and easily ignitible material, the danger from the ignition between the two p'oints, to life, limb, loss of Hlm and surrounding property, is nothing as compared with the explosion of the massed bulk of hlm in one or both magazines during the operation of the machine, and hence the importance of providing some means by which magazines are made impossible of eX- plosion when the film is more o1' less exposed to ignition, as it must be durin the operation of the machine for throwing the illuminated picture to a suitable background.

In, every moving picture machine before this invention, provided with a magazine, the film is invariably operative when the magazine doors are open as well as when closed, and inview of the danger from the operation of the lm while the doors are open, as above related, it is apparent that any means by which it is possible and practical to prevent the operation of the Hlm while the doors are open is a substantial ad- Vance in the art to which this invention is directed.

T he object of this invention broadly stated is to prevent the operation of-the ilni reels of a moving picture machine when the doors of either magazine are open, and until both doors are in a closed position, or more specifically stated until the doors ltElSSlllEl of both magazines are locked in their closed position.

A further object of this invention is to provide a moving picture machine with means byY which it is possible and practical to shift the iilm from an inoperative to an operative osit-ion by a force applied directly to tlie reel shaft, produced through the closing of the door of its magazine.

stillfurther objectof this invention is to automatically compel the film of a moving picture machine provided with a magazine, to shift the shaft of both reels from an operative to an inoperative position the instant that the door of the magazine moves from a closed toward an open position;

Still more specifically stated, the object of this invention is a moving picture machine having a magazine in which the reel shaft is automatically moved to its operative position by the closing of the magazine door i and automatically shifted out of its operative position on the opening of a magazine door, that is to say, in which the reel shaft is connected with its driving mechanism when the door is closed, and is locked to the shaft bearing the instant the locked door'is moved toward an open position.

Another obj ect o f this invention is a moving picture machine, the reels of both of which magazines may be and are so connected with the magazine doors that neither reel is operative until both doors are close and locked, and that the reels in both magazines automatically move to an inoperative position on the moving of the closed door to an open position, and that each reel remains inoperative until its door is closed and locked. f

A further object of this invention is to prevent objectionable friction between the bearing of a magazine door and the shaft of a reel on moving the latter from an inoperative to, and while maintaining it in an operative position., for a film wound thereon.

Anpther object of this invention is to brace and stay sheet metal so as to prevent their warping and bending under pressures and strains due to this invention, and at the saine time utilize one of said stays as a keeper for a latch locking its door in a closed position.

W ith these ends in view, my invention finds embodiment in certain features of novelty in'the construction, combination and arrangement of parts by which the said objects and certain other objects are hereinafter attained, all as fully described with reference to the accompanying drawings, and more particularly pointed out in the claims.

ln said drawings: Figure 1 illustrates in front elevation partly in section a magazine for a moving picture machine. Fig. 2 shows a transverse section of the usually lower, or

4verse section of magazines constructed from receiving magazine on the line 2-2 with the door thereof shown in a closed and locked position. Fig. 3 illustrates a transtlie usually upper or supply the door thereoiin an open 4f illustrates a detail side eleinagazine with position. Fig.

.vation of the receiving, or `lower magazine, looking in the direction ofthe latch keeper.

Fig. 5 is a detail section on' the line 5*-5 of Fig. 2. Fig. 6 is a detail front elevation of the rollers between which the lilin is directed from one magazine into theother; and, Fig. 7 is adetail of the keeper for the latch locking themagazine doo-rs closed.

Similar characters of reference indicate the same parts in the several figures of the drawing.

The bodies of the receiving magazine 8 (Fig. 1) and of the supply magazine 9 Fig. 3) may be of cast metal, but are preferably made from a single sheet ofnietal respectively forming the rear ends 10 and 11 and sides 12 and 13. Both of these magazines have their sides stiffened by a somewhat thick metal strap 14 secured thereto by rivets 15, which pass through the arms of a triangular spider 16 and the magazine, and further secured to the end wall 10 of the magazine by rivets 17 with vone arm 18 of the spider projecting beyond the rim, and provided with a notch 19 forming the keeper for the latch one end for a door for closing the magazines, as hereinafter described. Spider 16 is strengthened by ribs 2O which may' be cast with or separately secured `to its legs, and is axially provided with a hub 21 having a flange 22 surrounding one or more circular recesses Q3, in the hub. j

The supply and receiving maga-zines are respectively provided with doors Zet and 25, secured to one side of the magazine by hinges Q6, and are stiifencd by a spider 2i having formed therewith a case hardened bearing block 27 at the juncture of its legs and axially of the door. The spider has three legs 2S, 29 and 30, one of which, leg Q8,projects to the free edge of the door, and has mounted thereon a latch 31 pivoted to of ing. i

thel leg by a screw 32 and adapted to engage 4the hubs being each provided with a spring clip i2 for securing thereto the end of the tilin to be wound upon which the film i3 (see Fig. 1) passes from the supply reel through an opening in the the reels, and from v magazine between rollers 4A and 45. One of these rollers 44, is entirely confined within and the other roller 45, partly confined in a spout-like housing 46. There is also a similar opening, pair of rollers and housing (not shown) for the receiving, or take up reel, vthrough and between which the film passes to that reel, and in both instances one of these rollers (see Fig. 6) and may be both, is provided with a peripheral groove 47 across which the other roller extends to form a closed passage 47 for the film, the structure of both of these outlets and inlets, however, being old for the purpose of preventing fire igniting thelm between the two reels from entering either magazine, and which it can do only when the magazine doors are left open during the operatmn of the machine.

The outer and free ends of the shafts 35 are cone shaped and bear against the block 27 when the magazine doors are closed, the opposing end of the shaft being cone shaped, and the bearing block 27 provided with a corresponding recess Vof hardened `metal 't0 so reduce the friction between the shaft and Vthe door as not to retard the revolution of the former or, in other words, to reduce friction between the shaft and the door to a minimum asfar as may be.

Shafts 35 have sepured thereon collars 48 forming a stop -linnting the inward movement of the reelsand a seat for one end of a spring 49 coiled about the shaft 35 projecting into an enlarged recess or chamber 50 in the hub 2l against a collar 5l bearing against the end wall of the recess 50, the outer end of the hub being contracted adjacent the recess 50 to form the bearing 52 of the shaft 35 in which collars A51 are secured to the shafts 35 by a pin 53 projectingfinto a slot 54 in their shafts so that the shafts may have an endwise movement through the collars 51 and the reels with their film be moved outwardly by the eX- pansion of the spring 49 to" the position shown in Fig. 3, and inwardly by the force of their doors on closing it, as shown in Fig. 2.

As so far described the structures of the supply and receiving magazines, the reels and their operating mechanism are precisely the same, and are differentiated as now to be described only for the purposes of adapting the two structures to both reels and due to the fact that a driving power must be applied to one of the reels, namely the receiving reel, to take up the film delivered from the mechanism intermittently feeding the lihn through the machine, and for which purpose there is secured as usual (see Fig. 2) to the shaft 35 of the receiving reel a grooved belt driven pulley 55, the huh of which is secured to the shaft 35 by a screw 56, with the opposite end of the hub nornially projecting into the chamber 57 formed by the Harige 22 of the hub, the opposing end of the hub being provided with a single pin 58 adapted to register with the perforated recesses 23 in the hub 2l. of the spider 16, there preferably being at least four 'of these recesses 23 at such intervals in the spider hub as will provide for the engagement of the pin 58 therewith at any quarter turn of the shaft 35 in order to avoid a full turn of the shaft for the engagement of the pin. From the foregoing it will now be seen by reference to Fig. 2 that immediately the closed door therein is moved toward an open position, the spring will eX )and and move the shaft 35 together with tlie reel and lm thereon outwardly toward the open door and at the same time engage the pin 58 with the recess 23 next adjacent thereto, with the result that the film is locked against the possibility of again operating until the door is closed and locked by the engagement of the latch 31, with the recess 19 in the spider leg 18, and furthermore that until this engagement of the latch with its keeper, the spring, on releasing the door, will force the lm out of the position it must have for its operation.

As there -is no driving mechanism for the supply magazine film other than that fur- Vnished by the film feeding mechanism of the machine, there is (see Fig. 3) secured to the end of the shaft 35 adjacent its bearing in the spider hub, a disk 59 confined in the chamber provided for by the flange 22 to the underside of which is secured a pin 60 adapted to register with the perforations 23, the disk being inclosed by a cap 61 screwed on the annular flange as indicated at 62, projecting above the disk 59 a sufficient distance for the pin clearing the perforations 23, the operation of this disk and pin end of the shaft, film and door being precisely the same as that before described concerning the structure in Fig. 2 and with the same result, namely that with the door open as shown in Fig..3 the spring 49 is shown to be expanded and to have moved the pin to. engagement with one of the recesses 23 and locked the shaft, reel and film of the supply reel against the possibility of operating until the door 25 is fully closed and locked.

For convenience in the manipulation of the latches 31, they are both provided with a thumb ieee 31. l i

While have shown and described certain and specific devices and mechanism in which this 'invention finds embodiment, and by which it is first iliade practical and possible to certainly prevent by any means. and especially means operating automatically, the operation of the reels of the films until the doors of both magazines of a moving picture struction capable the operation of machine are closed and locked, it is apparent thatvmy invention is not, and should not be limited to any ofthese details of construction, when there is present any of the conof, or adapted to prevent the film in the absence of the doors of the magazines being closed, or by -kwhich the reels of either one, or both magazines, are operative only when the openings for their insertion and removal are sealed against the admission of air sulficient to prevent fire entering and igniting any portion of the film Within such magazine.

ln conclusion it should be observed that my invention is not limited to the employment of a door which swings from a close to an open position, but includes broadly any door, the opening of which on any means or in any direction, permits a -film reel to be automatically moved out of its operative position, and the force of the closing of which rengages the film with its operative mechanism, and my invention also includes any common and well known form of clutch adapted for locking the film reel against operating on the opening of the door, and as a substitute for the spring, any device the force of which automatically moves the film reel out of its operative position on the opening of the door to a magazine in'closing the same.

Having described my invention, what l claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: l

1. ln a magazine structure for moving picture machines, the combination of a reel shaft, a reel therefor upon which the film thereof is supported, a magazine for -inclosing said reel, and means for moving said shaft, whereby the reel is vmaintained against operating until the opening in the magazine for the insertion and removal of its film is sealed against the admission'o air therethrough sufficient for the ignitionof the film, substantially as described.

2. ln a magazine structure for moving icture machines, the combination of a shaft, a reel fixed thereon, means for supporting and inclosing said reel, and means shifting said shaft and thereby maintain the reel against operation until the inclosing means are lsealed against the admission of air sufficient for the ignition of the film therein, substantiflly as described.

3. 'ln a magazine structure for .moving picture machines, the combination of a film, a support for theopposite end portions of the film, lmeans for operating said support and the film, means for inclosing-the saine, means for the introduction of the film to said 'inclosure, and means for laterally shifting thelilin, and thereby preventing the operation of the film until its inclosure is sealed against the of air, as and for 'the' purpose described.

4. ln a magazine structure for, moving substantial admission e picture machines, a combination of film sup ply, and receiving reels, magazines for in closing said reels and film, provided withl doors for the insertion and removal of the reels, and means whereby one or both of said reels are bodily moved to their operative position on the closing of itsdoor, and likewise out of operative position when its door is moved toward an open position, substantially as described.

5. A magazine for moving picture machines, comprising. in combination film supplyv and receiving reels, means for simultaneouslyjoperating said reels, magazines therefor provided with doors, means con necting said doors with and shiftingv said reels, whereby the reels are moved to an operative position by the closing of the doors, and out of operation when the doors are open, substantially as described.

G. A magazine structure for moving picture machines comprising in combination a magazine, a door therefor, a film reel inclosed by said magazine, a shaft for said reel, means niatically moved, and means for locking the shaft against operation on the opening of the door, and until moved by contact with the door on closing the same, substantially as described. i,

7. A magazine structure for moving plee ture machines comprising in combination film supply receivingv reels. and actuating shafts for and supporting said reels, a spring on each of said shafts,`one end of which is connected with the shaft, and the other with a hub therefor, stops actuated `to engagement by the spring, magazines having doors providing a lbai' for one end bf said shaft whereby the closing of said doors moves said shaft to aposition disengaging said. stops, substantially as described. p v

8. A magazine structure for moving` picture machines comprising in combination magazines, film supply and receiving reels adapted to be inclosed by said magazines, a supporting shaft for each of said reels, means for moving said shafts longitudinally, a driving pulley on one of said shafts, and means respectively engaged and disengaged by the movement of said shaft for preventing the operation lsubstantially as described;

9. A magazine structure ture machines comprising magazine, a reel therein, a door for closing said magazine, a hub mounted u on said reel, a shaft journaled said hu means for removably securing the -reel to the shaft, recesses in said heb, a driving pulley prou for moving Apicin combination a of the machine,

by which said shaft -is autollt lll

vided with a stop for engaging said recesses, In witness whereof, I have hereunto set and means whereby on the opening of the my hand and affixed my "seal, this 25th day magazine for the insertion and removal of of February, A. D. 1912.

n reel7 said stop and recesses engage and WALTER A. DIETZE. [L. s] lock the pulley against movement and on Witnesses:

closing the magazine it will disengage, sub- JNO. G. ELLIo'rr,

stantially as described. MILDRED ELSNER.

Copie: o! this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents Washington, D. C. 

